MLB stayed consistent through the 1960 season, with each league having 8 teams. Expansion first came in 1961, with the AL adding the Los Angeles Angels and Washington Senators (the original Washington Senators became the Minnesota Twins and the later Senators became the Texas Rangers in 1972). The NL expanded in 1962, as the New York Mets and Houston Astros joined the NL. Both the AL and NL expanded by two for the 1969 season, as the AL added the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots (the Pilots became the Milwaukee Brewers for the 1970 season) and the NL added the San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos. The AL would add the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays for the 1977 season. It wasn't until 1993 that the NL added two more teams: the Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies. Both leagues concluded the expansion with the AL's Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the NL's Arizona Diamondbacks in 1998. Prior to the first game played by each of the new teams, a draft was held the year before for the new teams to attempt to put together a roster of players for the next season. The rules for the availability of players changed slightly from 1962 to 1998, but what was common was the opportunity for the new teams to decide which players they could use from the existing teams in MLB. Over a series of 14 posts, I will review the expansion drafts of each of these newer 14 teams. Included are trades made following the draft and which players were taken first overall. Without further due, here is a recap of the 1992 expansion draft for the Florida Marlins. The draft was set up to where the two new NL teams, the Rockies and the Florida Marlins, could select players from both the National and American Leagues. To give the AL a little of a break, there was a limit of 8 AL teams that could have three players chosen. Each round consisted of 24 players taken for a total of 72 players. The Rockies won the coin toss and had a choice to either pick first and receive the last pick in the 1993 amateur draft or to pick 2nd and 3rd and receive the 2nd to last pick in the 1993 amateur draft. The Rockies chose to take the first pick, leaving the Marlins with the 2nd overall pick and the 27th pick in the upcoming draft. The Marlins took outfielder Nigel Wilson from the Toronto Blue Jays organization with their first pick. That was followed by RHP Jose Martinez (4th) from the New York Mets. The Marlins 3rd selection was SS Bret Barberie (6th) from the Montreal Expos. They followed that up with RHP Trevor Hoffman (8th) from the Cincinnati Reds. The Marlins next two picks were RHP Pat Rapp (10th) from the San Francisco Giants and LHP Greg Hibbard (12th) from the Chicago Cubs. The rest of their top ten picks were OF Chuck Carr (14th) from the St Louis Cardinals, OF Darrell Whitmore (16th) from the Indians, RHP Bryan Harvey (18th) from the California Angels and OF Jeff Conine (20th) from the Kansas City Royals. The Marlins finished off the first round by drafting RHP Kip Yaughn (22nd) from the Baltimore Orioles and OF Jesus Tavarez (24th) from the Seattle Mariners. The Marlins opened up the second round by drafting OF Carl Everett (27th) from the New York Yankees. Their next pick was RHP David Weathers (29th) from the Blue Jays. Other notable second round picks were SS Ramon Martinez (33rd) from the Pittsburgh Pirates, C Steve Decker (35th) from the Giants, RHP Jack Armstrong (37th) from the Reds and RHPs Robert Person (47th) from the White Sox, Jim Corsi (49th) from the Oakland Athletics and Richie Lewis (51st) from the Orioles. The Marlins also had the first pick of the third round and used that to select LHP Danny Jackson (53rd) from the Pirates. Other notable third round selections were OF Junior Felix (60th) from the Angels, 3B Chris Donnels (60th) from the Mets and OF Monty Fariss (70th) from the Texas Rangers. They also had the last pick in the draft which they used to pick LHP Jeff Tabaka (72nd) from the Milwaukee Brewers. The following is the entire Florida Marlins expansion draft:Round 1[edit]PickPlayerPositionFromTo2Nigel WilsonOFTORFLA4José MartínezRHPNYMFLA6Bret BarberieSSMONFLA8Trevor HoffmanRHPCINFLA10Pat RappRHPSFFLA12Greg HibbardLHPCWSFLA14Chuck CarrOFStLFLA16Darrell WhitmoreOFCLEFLA18Eric HelfandCOAKFLA20Bryan HarveyRHPCALFLA22Jeff Conine1B/OFKCFLA24Kip YaughnRHPBALFLA26Jesús TavárezOFSEAFLARound 2[edit]PickPlayerPositionFromTo27Carl EverettOFNYYFLA29Dave WeathersRHPTORFLA31John JohnstoneRHPNYMFLA33Ramón MartínezSSPITFLA35Steve DeckerCSFFLA37Cris CarpenterRHPStLFLA39Jack ArmstrongRHPCLEFLA41Scott ChiamparinoRHPTEXFLA43Tom EdensRHPMINFLA45Andrés BerumenRHPKCFLA47Robert PersonRHPCWSFLA49Jim CorsiRHPOAKFLA51Richie LewisRHPBALFLARound 354Danny JacksonLeft-handed pitcherPittsburgh PiratesFlorida Marlins56Jamie McAndrewRight-handed pitcherLos Angeles DodgersFlorida Marlins58Bob NatalCatcherMontreal ExposFlorida Marlins60Junior FélixOutfielderCalifornia AngelsFlorida Marlins62Kerwin MooreOutfielderKansas City RoyalsFlorida Marlins64Ryan BowenRight-handed pitcherHouston AstrosFlorida Marlins66Scott BakerLeft-handed pitcherSt. Louis CardinalsFlorida Marlins68Chris DonnelsThird basemanNew York MetsFlorida Marlins70Monty FarissOutfielderTexas RangersFlorida Marlins72Jeff TabakaLeft-handed pitcherMilwaukee BrewersFlorida Marlins

After the draft, the Marlins signed free agents Charlie Hough, Benito Santiago, Orestes Destrade and Dave Magadan. They traded Hibbard to back to the Cubs for 3B Gary Scott and SS Alex Arias. They dealt Helfand back to the Athletics along with Baker to get SS Walt Weiss. They Marlins also added free agent catcher Terry McGriff and 2B Rick Renteria. The Marlins took OF Scott Pose in the 1992 Rule 5 draft from the Reds. The following was the Marlins opening day lineup in 1993:Scott PoseCFBret Barberie2BJunior FélixRFOrestes Destrade1BDave Magadan3BBenito SantiagoCJeff ConineLFWalt WeissSSCharlie HoughP The Marlins finished 64-98 in their first season under manager Rene Lachemann. In June, within a couple days of each other, the Marlins acquired Gary Sheffield from the San Diego Padres in exchange for Hoffman, Jose Martinez and Berumen and acquired OF Henry Cotto and RHP Jeff Darwin from the Mariners for Magadan.